Jim,

Welcome to GNH Community, glad to have you join us. Members may post information that they think will be of interest to nonprofits, civic organizations, and the people they serve or the general public. You may post calendared events on the events page, non-date specific information on the blog, pictures or video. Politically partisan, religious or business promotion posts are not allowed. Your opportunities to connect with other members greatly increases if you include a photo or logo on your profile include your job title and\or if you "like" or comment on the post of other members. Events are also noticed more often if you include a picture or logo as a part of the posting. Check out the groups created by other members; this is a great place to meet people that share your interest and to ask questions. You may request to join as many groups as you wish or start a new group. The creator of a group sets the parameters for membership. If you have a question about a group, please write to the owner (the person who initiated the group).

Ideas for increasing the impact of your participation:

1. Post your activities and events with a link back to your website as soon as the date is set, by doing this you decrease the chances of conflicting with the events of other area nonprofits.  Your posts are immediately viewable by over 800 members. We send notices of your event to 5000+ people via Facebook, Google+, Linkedin, Twitter and Instagram; search for #GNHCommunity to find these post. Post your events here: http://gnhcommunity.ning.com/events

2. Share your work and your thoughts with people who signed up to get more information about the work of Greater New Haven nonprofits by using our blog page this way. Post a headline and teaser paragraph with a link back to your blog. Once a week we feature the latest post on the above mentioned social media. Why not add your information to the mix?  Post non-date specific information here: http://gnhcommunity.ning.com/profiles/blog/list

3. Videos are increasingly becoming the medium of choice for nonprofits.Once a week we feature a video at the top of the homepage on GNH Community. Your video need not be professionally done to effectively communicate your message. Check out the videos that have already been posted for ideas and inspiration, create a video, post it on You Tube or Vimeo and share it through a link on the video page. Every Tuesday we feature a video and send a notice encouraging our social media network check out the video pick of the week.

Special note to Executive Directors types: Consider joining a special forum group created by one of your colleagues just for you:http://gnhcommunity.ning.com/group/executivedirectorforum

If you have questions or suggestions as to how we can make GNH Community more useful please let me know. GNH Community is funded by The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.

Lee